| Abstract Scope |
Over the last several years, rapid progress has been made in 3D printing of thermoset polymer resins. Such materials offer desirable thermal and chemical stability, attractive strength and stiffness, and excellent compatibility with many existing high performance fibers. Current efforts to scale thermoset AM up to large-scale have shown promise, but have also highlighted issues with print stability. To-date, very little research has focused on understanding how rheological properties of the feedstock dictate the mechanical stability of printed objects during printing. This talk will describe recent studies that link rheological properties like storage modulus, yield stress, and recovery to the structural stability of tall, thin 3D-printed epoxy walls. Elastic buckling and plastic yielding models are proposed to explain and predict the height at which collapse occurs due to self-weight, and material recovery will be shown to play a large role in stability. Implications for scale-up will also be discussed. |